The Sound of Silence

The Sound of Silence Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains within the sound of silence

[Verse 2]
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night and touched the sound of silence

[Verse 3]
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
And no one dared disturb the sound of silence

About “The Sound of Silence”

A cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s 1964 song of the same name. Annotations that are not specific to this version can be found on the original.

Style-wise, it differs greatly from both the folk-rock vibe of the original and the typical hard rock/metal style of most Disturbed songs. In their place is an orchestra that booms in crescendo as the song goes on, alongside David Draiman’s own vocals that become more powerful. This has resulted in perhaps the most successful single for Disturbed since Down With The Sickness, topping the US Hard Rock Digital and Mainstream Rock charts as well as reaching #42 on the Hot 100, the highest number charted by a Disturbed song.

How did the original songwriter(s) react to this cover?

Paul Simon himself endorsed the cover on April 2016 after seeing Disturbed perform it on the talk show Conan. Paul sent an email to David Draiman saying:

Really powerful performance on Conan the other day. First time I’d seen you do it live. Nice. Thanks.

David responded with:

Mr. Simon, I am honored beyond words. We only hoped to pay homage and honor to the brilliance of one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Your compliment means the world to me/us and we are eternally grateful.